A basic structure of a wireless local area network (WLAN) is a basic service set (BSS) including one access point station (AP STA) and multiple non-AP stations (non-AP STAs) associated with the AP. As illustrated in FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a basic architecture of a WLAN in the related art. In the network structure illustrated in FIG. 1, data is aggregated and distributed in the AP. That is, communication generally only occurs between the non-AP STA and the AP. The relationship between the AP and the non-AP STA is similar to that of a base station and user equipment (UE) in a cellular network. The AP in FIG. 1 is a primary node, and the non-AP STAs can associate with the AP. An AP, a base station, a mesh network station and the like are collectively referred to as a primary node, and a non-AP STA, UE and the like are collectively referred to as a secondary node herein. Moreover, it is considered that the relationship between the primary node and the secondary node is not a peer-to-peer relationship, and the relationship between a primary node and another primary node or the relationship between the secondary nodes is a peer-to-peer relationship, that is, peer stations. In recent years, the communication requirement between the peer stations has been increasing, and there are corresponding technologies in various technical fields. For example, technologies are proposed in the WLAN, such as a tunnel direct connection link setup (TDLS) technology, a direct connection link setup (DLS) technology and the like for direct communication between non-AP STAs in the same BSS. In the cellular network, a device-to-device (D2D) technology that supports communication between UEs is proposed. In addition, communication may also be performed between the AP stations by using a technology such as the Mesh network.
At present, as more people use WLAN for data communication, a network load of the WLAN is also increasing. With the increase of the number of users or the interference between WLAN networks, the efficiency of the WLAN network also has a decreased trend significantly. Therefore, the IEEE Standards Organization has established a related task force to solve the problem of the decrease in the network efficiency of the WLAN. It has become a hot topic of discussion the technology of interference avoidance and efficiency improvement under the condition of dense network deployment. In the technology under discussion, a station supporting a new standard adds control information, such as a BSS network identifier (color bits), a station identifier (STA ID), an uplink/downlink flag (UL/DL flag), spatial multiplexing parameters and a reserved transmission duration to a physical-layer frame header of a transmitted radio frame in a new format. Accordingly, a station that detects the radio frame can determine basic conditions of a subsequent radio frame load or the transmission according to the control information in advance, thereby determining a next operation. The radio frames in the new format are collectively referred to as high efficiency (HE) radio frames. For example, a color value indicates a network identifier of the BSS, and the AP determines and notifies the color value to the stations associated to the AP. The radio frames from all the stations carry the color value. The station can determine whether the radio frame is under coverage of a BSS with which the station is associated according to the color value indicated in the detected radio frame, and determine, according to the uplink and downlink flags, whether the radio frame is transmitted via a downlink from the AP to the stations or via an uplink from the stations to the AP.
When the station determines that the radio frame is a frame from the BSS with which the station is associated according to the color value, and the station is not a receiver of the radio frame according to the uplink and downlink flags, for example, the radio frame is indicated as an uplink frame and is sent to the AP, a non-AP station in the BSS may not receive a subsequent data payload, and does not contend for a channel to avoid interference to the transmission being performed in the BSS. When the station determines, according to an indication of the color value, that the radio frame is not a frame from the BSS with which the station is associated, the station may choose to perform spatial multiplexing according to information such as energy of the radio frame and interference level, thereby increasing transmission opportunities. In summary, wireless resources may be more efficiently utilized between BBSs by using information such as the network identity of the BSS, the uplink and downlink flags.
The problem of interference to data transmission in an infrastructure BSS can be solved effectively by using the above-described technology for carrying control information in the physical-layer frame header of the HE radio frame. However, in a solution of efficiency improvement in consideration of a transmission between the AP and the non-AP STA in the related art, neither the effect on the transmission of the infrastructure BSS by the direct connection link and transmission process between peer stations nor the interaction effect between multiple direct connection links is considered.